Committed to People
It is with tremendous pleasure that I am inviting you to participate in the 11th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in Vienna !

Growing steadily from its founding days in 1988 to today the EAPC has become a renowned association and a voice for palliative care and hospice professionals throughout Europe , with a growing reputation as a competent expert. In 2008, the EAPC counted individual members in 40 countries, with collective members from 41 National associations in 25 European countries, representing a movement of some 50.000 health care workers and volunteers working or interested in palliative care. Much of this development is due to the success of its congresses and research meetings.

The 11th Congress of EAPC in Vienna will take up the lead from the last congress in Budapest in June 2007. The congress venue in the middle of Europe allows for easy access for participants from Central and Eastern European countries, showing the continuous commitment of EAPC towards the development of palliative care in these countries.

The congress will also highlight the Budapest Commitments.. This initiative is a joint project of EAPC, the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care and the Word-wide Palliative Care Alliance. At the Budapest congress the national associations have been asked to define clear goals within a common framework, and commit themselves to reach these goals in the next two years. First results from this initiative will be presented in Vienna , and the significance of this project is also represented in the congress title: Committed to People

The Chairs of the Scientific Committee Friedemann Nauck and Phil Larkin as well as the Chair of the Organizing Committee Hans-Georg Kress have already put in much energy and enthusiasm to produce an interesting and challenging programme. They will make this a successful conference.

However, the success of the congress will depend not only on the scientific programme or the venue, but to a large degree also on the participants, who will make this a living and lived-in congress. Come and join us in Vienna , participate in the discussions and contribute with your experience!

Your contribution will help to make the congress in Vienna live up to the new mission statement of EAPC, which has been constituted in April 2008:

The EAPC brings together many voices to forge a vision of excellence in palliative care that meets the needs of patients and their families.

It strives to develop and promote palliative care in Europe through information, education and research using multi-professional collaboration, while engaging with stakeholders at all levels.